We got off and went to the observation deck on the left side of the station first, the view was amazing.
We then went out onto the mountain, it was really weird and had big craters everywhere, it was a bit like what I would expect the moon to be like. The views from everywhere were great, from the back end of the mountain we could see over to Atlanta, all the skyscrapers and then another mountain which was just visible in the distance. From the rest of the mountain we could see across various other areas of Atlanta and other areas of the park, it was so cool. We sat down for a while and took in the view, although there were loads of people up there it was kind of peaceful, and so, so hot, even the gentle wind didnt cool us down.
After a while Mum, Dad and Sophie went off to walk back down the mountain, there was a 1.3 mile trail down one side which you can walk up and down. We passed however as it was so hot, and everyone who had walked up looked so tired and miserable, plus we wanted to see the views from the ariel tramway again. We got a few souvenirs in the little shop and then caught the tram down, the views again were amazing and we could see over to the parks marina.
You can see how busy Memorial Lawn was already for the 9.30pm lazer show
Once at the bottom we walked over to the marina which was about a 10 minute walk. As we walked down there were people hiking through the woods and more and more cars entering the park, it was getting pretty busy. At the marina we went on the pedalos. The lake was split in 2 with the pedalos on one side and the big paddle steamer on the other. Around the lake were little trails, all of which looked really pretty and peaceful. We rode around on the pedalo for about 20 minutes, we got to see a couple of turtles which was cool and also had good views over to the mountain.
Once we had finished on the pedalos we got a frozen slushee each and sat on a bench outside whilst we waited for the others. They eventually arrived about 90 minutes later and we all went on the big paddle steamer boat. We sat at the back on the top deck and the boat went all around the lake, past the Stone Mountain golf course which Dad and Nick were eyeing up for our next visit, past the Stone Mountain campground which looked pretty cool, and past a little beach area. We also saw the Ride the Ducks on the lake, they looked pretty cool. Unfortunately we didnt realize you had to get the tickets for them when you get your park tickets, but we wouldnt have really had time anyway so its another thing we would have to do next time.
We got back to the marina and Mum, Dad and Sophie went on the pedalos whilst Nick and I got some drinks and nachos to share and went and sat up on the bank. I wrote my diary so I wouldnt have to do it as well as pack later and managed to finish it well before they did on the pedalos. By the time they came off the queue for the tram back to the main area of the park was huge so we decided to walk, which was pretty hard work up hill it that heat. We headed straight to Tall Tales 4D as we needed some air conditioning and didnt have to wait long before the show started. It was a 4D film about a grandfather teaching his grandchildren to be able to tell tales and showing them about Southern life, it was pretty good. When it had finished Nick and I looked around Crossroads whilst the others went over to Sky Hike, an adventure kind of course made of ropes and bridges on different levels. Unfortunately we met them on the way to the toilet and they had passed on the Sky Hike as there was a 2 hour queue to do just one of the levels. The park had got so much busier since we had been at the marina, Crossroads was absolutely heaving with people with cool boxes and blankets and even quilts and pillows all heading over to Memorial lawn in front of the memorial carving. They went over to the Great Barn instead and Nick and I did some souvenir and gift shopping and then met them over there. The Great Barn was a big indoor play center with loads of balls that you collect and suck into tubes, it looked like great fun. Once Sophie had finished playng we went over to Honeybaked Ham Cafe in Crossroads for some tea. The queue was huge and took a good 20-30 minutes but there were loads of free tables so people were obviously getting it to take over to Memorial Lawn to eat whilst they waited. Nick and I got a Southern Philly sandwich, some sweet potato soufflé and honey baked ham and potato soup to share, all which was pretty good. The sandwich had honeybaked ham, cheese, onions and peppers in and was delicious.
After tea we walked over to Memorial Lawn to get some seats for the lazer show. It was only 8pm and the show wasnt until 9.30pm but the lawn was absolutely packed, there wasnt a space in sight. Luckily I had read about reserved seating before the holiday and we had booked it in the morning when we got our tickets. We couldnt see where it was however and ended up walking all the way to the top of the lawn which was quite a long way through all the people. We searched for someone to ask but couldnt find anyone. That was our one criticism of the park, the direction signs were few and far between around the park and there was no-one around the busy lawn to ask where to go. We finally found out where to go and headed back down through the people to the Louisiana Terrace. All the toilets and food centres were absolutely heaving, it was crazy around the park, probably something to do with the fact it was Labour Day tomorrow. The Louisiana Terrace was on the right hand side of the lawn about half way down, there were lots of seats set up and the view of the memorial carving was great. There were a few seats left so we got the ones at the back as they had more room. We were given glow sticks and sat and listened to the music they were playing, there was a nice atmosphere around the park, everyone seemed so happy. What was annoying though was that people without tickets kept coming into the area and sitting on the bench behind us and the girl who was in charge was too busy on her phone to notice. She did tell one man it was just for people with tickets but he simply made some comment about there being other people there without tickets and moved out of her view, some people are very cheeky.
Some pre-show pictures, its quite dark so hard to see but the lawn was absolutely packed
At 9.30pm the show started, it started with some lazers and fireworks with music playing. The show was kind of in sections, the first had all different songs about the South like Sweet Home Alabama and The Devil Went Down To Georgia. The lazers projected all different images about the south including images of the sports teams, the Braves and Cubs got big, big cheers, again it was nice to be part of the atmosphere. The images projected would be lazer images and now and again proper picture images would be projected too. There was then a section with lots of lazers dancing around in different shapes with some techno type music. The next section had cows doing sketches from different movies set to music from the movie and renamed something to include some kind of cow pun. The movies included Star Wars, Pirates of the Caribbean, Gone With The Wind and more (sorry cant remember the cow names). It was sponsored by Chick-fil-a which was kind of funny, we also saw a couple of adverts for it around Atlanta with the cows in too. The final section was about the army, navy, firefighters and doctors. The army got such huge cheers, as did the 9-11 firefighters, it was so patriotic but so lovely to see. The lazer images were projected next to picture images, flags and eagles were shown a lot too. Fireworks were also set off at points, particularly at the end. It was all so good and so lovely to see how patriotic everyone is, I love being part of it.
You must've been busy all afternoon! I love reading your reports. You give so much detail and of course your British accent shines through. 
I can't believe the view that you had from the helicopter! Amazing. I had to show DH. Love Nick's cowboy hat. The sign of a true southener. 
Awesome update!! Wow! That must have taken you forever to post! 
Glad he survived!
Another trip planned! It is fun to think of you guys going thru the Eurotunnel. That makes it so much easirer to get over to France. How long does it take to go thru?
I'm glad you guys had a good time. Sometime you should visit Washington DC, we have great museums... then you could go to Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown... do the colonial America thing. You could go to Cape May, New Jersey... it's a Victorian seaside town, very pretty in the summer! 
That's the fun of drinking a colored slushie.
